Math Story : Symmetry And Line Of Symmetry
Visit To The Symmetry Land
It is a beautiful Sunday morning. “Hey, come let us play. This will be fun”, says Squarho while playing with his football. Everybody gets excited and decides to join him for the play. Uncle Math joins them too.
Together they play with Squarho’s football and have fun.
It is Cirho’s turn to throw the football. He throws it so fast, that it falls into a pit. Squarho gets furious. “Don’t be mad! I will go and get it”, says Cirho.
As Cirho gets close to the pit, he falls into it. Hearing his scream, everybody runs towards him. It turns out that it is a secret tunnel.
Everyone decides to jump into the tunnel to save Cirho.
Thudd! Everybody falls on the ground. “Oh, no! Where are we?” questions Cirha as she notices strange surroundings.
There are weird 2D objects on this mysterious land. “But why are they folding into halves?” asks Triho noticing the strange property of the objects. “Ahh! We are on the Symmetry Land”, says Uncle Math making connections with the clues and properties of the objects. But the kids are clueless.
“Why is the name Symmetry Land?” questions Cirho. “Because everything here is symmetrical”, answers Uncle Math. Still clueless, and frustrated Squarho says, “I still don’t get it”. Uncle Math decides to explain everything in detail.
“An object is symmetrical when it can be folded into half and both the sides are exactly the same. Look at the butterfly. Can I fold it into half such that both the sides are exactly the same?” questions, Uncle Math.
Observing carefully, Triho says, “Oh yes! When I fold it from the centre, it gets divided into identical halves”. Uncle Math smiles and says, “Yes! So this butterfly is a symmetrical object. The line that divides the object into identical halves is called the Line of symmetry. In this case, this is the line of symmetry”. Excited, Triho says, “Oh! So the objects here are folding at their lines of symmetries”.
“Wow! This is so cool”, says Cirho. The kids observe other symmetrical shapes and identify their lines of symmetry. “Hey look, this house has one line of symmetry”, says Squarho. “Look, this flower has six lines of symmetries. Wow! Can an object have many lines of symmetry?” questions Cirha.
“Absolutely! An object can have infinite lines of symmetries too. Look at this circular tree. I can divide it into equal halves from various points”, says Uncle Math. The kids are amazed and continue finding the lines of symmetries of the objects.
“But where is my football? I want my football”, says Squarho. He starts looking here and there to see if the ball is hidden somewhere.
Somewhere far he spots his football and is elated. He runs to grab it.
As Squarho grabs the football, he hears the loud sound of footsteps. As he turns around he spots a weird looking monster whose half body is missing. “Aaaahhhh!” He screams out of fear.
On the other side, a similar monster whose other half body is missing attacks Triho and others. They run to save themselves. They also spot Squarho running to save himself.
“Oh no! The ‘half monster’ has attacked Squarho too! It looks like he is symmetrical too and each of his halves has attacked us”, says Cirha. “If we run in the opposite direction such that both the half monsters collide, then we might be saved”, suggest Triho. Everybody does as said.
On the left side, there are Uncle Math, Triho, Cirha, Cirho, and the ‘half monster’ running fast. On the right side, there is Squarho and the other ‘half monster’ running behind him. Will they collide? Will Triho’s plan work?
Bam! Both the half monsters collide.
Hurrah! Everybody is safe. The ‘half monster’ is complete now as he found his other identical half.
“I was struggling to merge with my symmetrical half, but you all helped me. Thank you so much!” says the monster. He also gives back the football to Squarho. Everybody is happy as they made another new friend. They immediately leave. Cheers to a fun-filled day!
We Learnt That…
- An object is symmetrical when it can be folded in half and both the sides are exactly the same.
- The line that divides the object into identical halves is called the Line of symmetry.
- We can find symmetrical objects in our surroundings.
Let’s Discuss!
- Where did the tunnel lead us to?
- What are symmetrical objects? Explain.
- What is a line of symmetry? Explain.
- Spot some symmetrical objects around you and mark their line of symmetry.
Please refer this guide by Fun2Do Labs for teaching symmetry to kids :
